Marc Vandoosler
Origins Marc Vandoosler is a still rather young and very dedicated medievalist who plays a main role in the Three Evangelists series. A big part of his character is based on Thibault “Tiberius” Lescale from Vargas’ early (and first crime) novel Ceux qui vont mourir te saluent, 1994 (German: Im Schatten des Palazzo Farnese). Marc’s last name was confirmed to be Belgian. Background Biography Marc is the only one of the characters in the Shack we get some information about concerning his earlier life. He was not born in Paris, but moved there at age 12 to live with his uncle. That very uncle tells a story of this time in Debout les morts (German: Die schöne Diva von Saint-Jacques) about young Marc accidentily dropping his playing ball from the balcony and being so upset about it that he stomps around for hours with tears in the eyes and not being able to think about anything but his ball until his uncle goes get it back. According to Vandoosler senior, also, Marc's intelligence, wit, stubbornness and impulsivity already showed when he was a child, which is why his godfather states that back then, he was almost a "finished human being". Recognizable is his habit of running away when he cannot accept something, a habit he kept from his childhood. When the first Part of the Three Evangelists series starts, Marc is thirty-five years old. At this point he has “been in the shit” for at least two years. He had been married, but left by his wife – for a man of taller and more muscular stature, he states. Hoping to get out of his unfortunate situation, he meets with friend Mathias (who he has known for four years) and convinces him to join in on the costs of the old house in the Rue Chasle in Paris he has come across, later to be called “The Shack”, and therefore becomes the catalyst to the events of the whole series. Appereances Marc is a protagonist in all of the Three Evangelists series. In the first and the third one, he can even be called the hero, since he saves the future victims right in time in both cases. He makes some guest appearances in Pars vite et reviens tard (german: ''Fliehe weit und schnell), helping Inspector Adamsberg'' solving the case with his knowledge of the black plague and its medieval protection methods. Person Physical Appereance Marc is described as midsized, shifty, but not very strong and not very resistant. Yet he has enough of carefully portioned strength available to be a skilled and easy climber, specializing in older stone walls and trees. His hands are described as both long, slender, cubical and clear cut, and, at another point, also as broad. His left is ornamented with silver rings he uses to play around with sometimes when in thought during a conversation. His only accessories, next to a slightly flashy belt buckle. Marc is frequently clothed in only black, featuring a usual linen jacket, tight pants and heavy clasp boots (Louis doubted them to be a good choice for climbing once, which Marc indignantly controverted). His face is, according to Marthe in Un peu plus loin sur ''la droite, (german: Das Orakel von Port Nicolas) “not bad”. A Native American touch adds to his lean features, making them seem elegant, somewhat noble, even (see interpretation in infobox). His nervous character is visible in his usually vaguely unsettled mimics. They are said not to be very intimidating even when Marc is angry. His hair is black and not longer than ending in the neck. As Louis puts it, Marc lacks "natural authority". Henceforth he is practically unable to call a waiter in a café by raising his arm, as exampled in ''Sans feu ni lieu. Personality Marc is permanently unsteady in his decisions, a final outcome of one is likely to be the opposite than his first choice, for he rethinks everything more than twice and is in general a very doubting character. In everything he does though, he keeps up his one “codex”, his pattern of always bringing to an end what he has started, no matter how much time or work it takes, a useful and certainly essential trait for his work as a medievalist. Despite this lasting inner conflict, he is very passionate and extremely determined when it comes to things he is interested in, bound to in some way, or people he loves and trusts. This leads to a large amount of more or less drastic blowups, since Marc is easily intelligent enough to see the dark sides of a matter, but, in an almost childish faith and the strife for something to hold onto in his insecurity defends his own point with everything he has. On the opposite, he has no ambitions whatsoever when it comes to something seemingly irrelevant to him – according to his godfather everything that is not about the middle ages or unhappy loves. Only accidental personal engagement in something like a murder can wake his curiosity and spirit. Marc likes to talk a lot, especially when he is given opportunity to make his sentences long and complicated, going into detail. In several situations, he shows a casual, ironic humor. He often uses dramatic talk, that can be completely serious and at the same time completely excessive. Marc can surely be called a hopeless romantic. He dreams preferably of the women he has been together with and his love for them he lost, but also of the one woman that will finally be able to love only him on the whole earth, indicating his very sensitive inner self. He treats women very careful, without forcing anything upon them. It his highest romantic need to be admired and confirmed in what he is and what he does. He gathers comfort from the similar alone-ness affecting Mathias, Lucien and Louis. Furthermore, he likes to drift into his fantasies of himself being an impoverished feudal lord, which led to his liking of bicycles, them symbolizing a noble mount, or, optional, a Native American’s stallion (he accepted this role given to him by Louis in Un peu plus loin sur la droite with amusement.) This may function as a lift of confidence for him, forming a hideaway in his lack of money and romantic attention. Marc would never call himself courageous. In fact, inspired by Mathias, he often compares himself to the stereotype of a prehistorical gatherer, quick, nervous, nimble, but not bold. He disregards the case that actually, courage is not determined by not showing fear, but overcoming one's own fear to do the right thing, which Marc certainly shows to do in every single book of the series. In his current condition, Marc literally lives for his work, for with the translations of medieval scripts he cannot make his living. He earns what he needs by making the laundry for elderly women in the surroundings and working as a cleaner. To the surprise of especially Lucien, Marc succeeds to find enjoyance in the arts of different polsihes and laundry specialities. The Middle Ages are the hail to him, and he finds peace in the ten centuries, reasoned by him with the fact that there is no end in sight, and the researches will easily last another thousand years - An abundance that offers reliability to Marc. There is only one sign of distress towards his adored era, when he realises, considering that he could have, instead of a medievalist, become a sailor, he would still have been a sailor in the fifteenth century. It shows how strongly Marc is drawn to his own interests, if not even caged inside him, being a captive being something he despises. His passions combine in his relationship to medieval cleric architecture. He speaks of one church he visits on his way to Nevers in Sans feu ni lieu ''as a “daughter of the Romanesque art he had always been deeply in love with”. Talents As already described, Marc is highly intelligent, but extraordinarily focused on what he uses it for. Sometimes he can even be called brilliant, according to Louis in the middle of the” two ends that can’t get together” he is made of. In the same state, he might as well lose his mind or make jokes. His knowledge about his Middle Ages is as immense as his devotion and comes with Latin skills. As a more unknown fact, Marc is a talented drawer, although there is only two scenes to prove it, at the beginning of ''Debout les morts (german: Die schöne Diva von Saint-Jacques'') in which he scribbles a statue on his table in a café and in ''Sans feu ni lieu, when Louis asks him to draw him portaits of different people in the course of an investigation''. He does not name it as one of his talents though when he is asked by Louis. As mentioned earlier as well, Marc is quick to climb up any stone wall and any tree with ease, his boots being an object of comfort for that matter. He is proud of this skill of his, likely because it is the only more physical ability he is able to show off. Relationships Mathias Delamarre On a professional basis, Marc has no understanding for Mathias, but on a private one, he likes him a lot, admires him, even, for his calm and collected nature, his “pure heart” and, surely not least for his ability to listen, something Lucien lacks and since Marc doesn’t seem to fully trust his uncle, that makes Mathias the only one in the shack Marc can actually talk to. He thinks of Mathias as the symbol of manliness itself, something Marc at least secretly envies him for and compares him to the ocean in atithesis to his own "plate tectonic activity". Known by Marc since the two became friends at the university they both attended, another important point is Mathias’ patience and his general indulgent sympathy towards Marc, who yet could be described as Mathias’ opposite. The hunter-gatherer, as Marc calls him, is an important calm anchor to Marc and their relationship is based on acceptance, tolerance and reliance. Lucien Devernois Lucien with his very provocative and always subtly arrogant behaviour is a combustion point to the easily annoyed Marc, and it happens often enough that he gets very enraged and shouts at Lucien to shut up, which Lucien usually answers with either a smile or a sassy response. Despite their one-sided fights and the requited incomprehension considering their subject areas, Marc still views Lucien as a part of the shack community, and will gladly ramble about his unsustainable character when talking to people outside the shack, but will never allow them to insult Lucien themselves. Armand Vandoosler With Vandoosler senior being Marc’s godfather and uncle, he is clearly part of the family, and knowing that Armand is not better off than him at the moment, Marc invites him to join the shack without reward. He does not especially like him though, his uncle’s manipulative kind often intimidates Marc’s honest kind. Vandoosler senior in return recognizes his nephew’s benevolence and intelligence and watches his moves and progress with interest. Louis "Ludwig" Kehlweiler Louis is a constant confusion to Marc, who, with his need for assurance, is not seldomly irritated by Louis’ vague facial features and speech. His tolerance, eccentric personality and undemanding nature provoke Marc's inner indecision even more. Yet Louis interests Marc, and he spends quite some time analyzing his actions when they’re solving their first shared case in ''Un peu plus loin sur la droite''. He sometimes speaks of Louis as the "son of the Rhine", and when thinking to himself even "son of World War II", due to his german-french heritage and origin in World War II. When Louis' face is stiffening, Marc innerly calls it his "German face" or "merovingian goth face". Bufo Bufo, Louis’ pet toad triggers deeply anchored loathing in the consciously civilized Marc. It goes far enough to cause an actual panic attack once or twice, reaching the top point when Marc accidently touches her when blindly searching for a map in the glove box on the road to Nevers. To calm down, it takes Marc a good deal of time and church viewing, as a "spritual purification". Alexandra Haufmann Alexandra is Marc's only major love interest next to his wife who left him. He is strongly interested in Alexandra, and apparently fails to hide it. At first, his interest is only sexual, but, as Lucien implies, Marc's attraction to Alexandra's intelligence and beauty leads him into a more romantical section of affection, shown as he searches for things he has in common with her and wishes for her to look out for him everytime she passes the Shack. However, his interest stays completely unrequited and is not mentioned again after "Lex" leaves the Rue Chasle at the end of ''Debout les morts. Trivia * Marc was dismissed from his job as an employed romance novel writer before the series starts, stating the story would always have been the same stupid thing and that it bored him sick, leading him to changing setences shortly before the release out of frustration. * When going on walks, Marc likes to have a stone to kick along, and he has become quite practice in the ways of keeping a stone on track without using the hands. * He doesn't usually drink coffee, since it makes him even more nervous than naturally. * He hates mussles as much as steamed witloof with bacon. * He has invented the sytem of the "Hideous little devils", which is a method to fall asleep using the human pattern of behavior to do what ever one is forbidden to do (the trick is to forbid oneself to fall asleep because otherwise thousands of hideous little devils emerge from a certain point in the room to devour the sleeping person). * He can drive a car, but prefers to take the metro or bus due to personal and financial reasons. * He likes to leave little notes. * Marc sings to himself from time to time. * He dislikes knives. * Car repair shops make him gloomy. * He is familiar with trees. * When at work, Marc chews on his pencil and, when extremely nervous, on his fingers' cuticles. * He enjoys going by train at night. * His pockets are usually filled with useless little items Marc picked up somewhere, stuffs from one pocket into the other and is unable to part with. This very sense for the useless reflects in his rings, belt buckle and poetical understanding. Gallery Marc Portrait.jpg|Marc's face as imagined by Gallifreyan-church-nerd. Saint Mark flatcolour png.png|Marc as Saint Mark (in the refectory's high window) by Gallifreyan-church-nerd. Category:Character Category:Evangelist